Bleeding orange and green...or what?

OK...I have a question, and this seemed like the most likely section of the forum to get an answer. I'm trying to get the details right for my fanfic, but I'm not sure if this detail has ever actually been established.

The question is this: what color is Cardassian blood? Have we ever seen one bleed?

Oooh, that's hard. I can't actually remember if it was ever established. My guess would be red, though. As Cardassians can apparently breed without complex medical assistance with Bajorans, humans and Kazon, I imagine it's iron based.

^ not really, the scene opens with Dukat and Garak quipping whilst fighting off the Klingons. Dukat has grabbed a Bat'leth and is using it to cut several Kingons down...actually this has me thinking that it is Klingon blood on Garak (or it could be human blood from the two Starfleet officers). I've got this episode on VHS so I should check this out.

Hmmm...what about bloodshot eyes? Could that be considered canon, assuming we can find a shot or two, or would that be another one of those "not sure whether it's canon or makeup" situations?

Edit: The thing is that unless the shot is under fairly bright light conditions, I don't know if even bright red blood on Cardassian skin would show up as bright red. Colors are tricky. Not even human blood always looks bright red.

Hmmm...what about bloodshot eyes? Could that be considered canon, assuming we can find a shot or two, or would that be another one of those "not sure whether it's canon or makeup" situations?

Edit: The thing is that unless the shot is under fairly bright light conditions, I don't know if even bright red blood pn Cardassian skin would show up as right red. Colors are tricky. Not even human blood always looks bright red.

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Hmmm, if we're taking about bloodshot eyes the only time we get to see them is when Damar is in his alcoholic phase but the lighting is always too dark to see.

I'm going to weigh in on the red blood, thicker skin side. I agree with what was said about heme based blood being necessary for successful crossing with other races of heme based blood (setting aside virtually every other scientific detail about hybrids, but we are trying to accept things as established in Trek). Cardassian tongues are also pink, and I seem to recall the times Garak got beaten up, he had red blood. It looked dark because of the lighting, but it still looked red.

(Note the avatar. I bet you Tekeny--in healthier days, mind you--could've slugged Garak a PAINFUL one given the proper opportunity...and, of course, certainty of being out of reach of the Obsidian Order afterwards.)

Now, obviously makeup may be chosen on a purely artistic whim, but oftentimes it's based on exaggerated biological colors, typically those indicative of arousal or youth. So we might start speculating that Cardassians do blush, yet they blush blue-green. It may not be a capillary reaction at all, yet it is probably the functional equivalent to blushing in the ethological sense: it indicates arousal or excitement or exhaustion.

It may be a gender-specific thing, too. But the way the forehead "spoon" on Natima Lang was accentuated might suggest that the "spoon" is a special location where blushing is often prominent, even if not quite as prominent as the makeup. So in this theory, excited males as well as females may demonstrate mild greening there, but the shadows mask this from the camera. Only in the idealized imagery of Cardassian beauty queens and kings, athletes or porn stars would the area flare bright blue-green.